Comic Rack – Detective Comics #30

Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato’s run on Detective Comics begins here with the beginning of a new arc that focuses on organized crime in Gotham City and Bruce Wayne‘s new business venture to help rehabilitate the city’s East End with crusader Elena Aguila rather than go for a far more lucrative option of re-developing the area.

Manapul and Buccellato offer as much Bruce Wayne as Batman here, showcasing the Dark Knight’s takedown the Kings of the Sun dealing drugs and kidnapping young children off the streets of Gotham. The main action of the issue comes from this part of the story where Buccellato colors Manapul’s beautiful art in blues and grays offering a similar, yet different, look to the pair’s relaunch of The Flash.

For a story that deals in organized crime, white slavery, gangs, Bruce Wayne still mourning the loss of his son Damian, and the crime boss The Squid feeding one of his soldiers to his pet, Detective Comics #30 is less dark and gloomy than you might expect offering a nice mix of story and action to start of the pair’s run on the title. Worth a look.